U.S.S.
HOUSTON was launched on 7th September 1929
and commissioned on 17th June 1930. She left for
the Pacific on 10th January 1931 arriving at Manila in the Philippines
on 22nd February to take up position as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet.
When the Japanese invaded China, HOUSTON
was sent to Shanghai to protect American nationals.
She remained there from January 1932 to May 1933. While stationed
there she made brief visits to Japan and Manila. On 17th
November 1933 she was relieved as flagship by her sister ship U.S.S.
AUGUSTA and she returned to San Francisco to join the Scouting
Force.

In 1934, with President Roosevelt aboard, she undertook a cruise to
the Caribbean then on to Hawaii and Portland, Oregon.
In 1935 she cruised to Hawaii, Alaskan waters, and Seattle and
in October took President Roosevelt to the West Coast of Central America
and on to Charleston N.C. HOUSTON was present at
the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge on 28th May 1937 and in 1938
carried President Roosevelt at the Fleet Review off San Francisco.
She served as the flagship of the U.S.Fleet from 19th September 1938
to December . She sailed on 4th January 1939 to Norfolk, Key
West, Houston, and arrived in Seattle on 3rd May. She was flagship
of the Hawaiian Detachment from 7th December 1939 until February when
she returned to Mare island for a refit.

On 3rd November 1940 she left America for the last time and proceeded
to Manila where she arrived on 19th November. She was now once
again the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet.

HOUSTON
was at Iloilo on the S.E. coast of Panay in the Philippines on
7th December 1941. She immediately sailed south through the
Sibutu Passage into the Celebes Sea. She called at Balikpapan Borneo,
and Makassar in the Celebes, before diverting to Surabaya Java where
she arrived on 18th December. On 22nd she rendezvoused
with a convoy in the East Java Sea and escorted them to Darwin, Australia.

HOUSTON spent January 1942 escorting convoys from Thursday
Island to Darwin, patrolling the Flores Sea and, on 23rd, left for
Surabaya arriving there 29th January. On 1st February she sailed from
Surabaya to Bounder Roads just south of Madura Island.

Near midnight on the 3rd February HOUSTON left with
the ABDA strike force to search the Makassar Strait for a Japanese
Invasion force. They sailed for Meinderts Reef off the north tip of Java
and at 0500 on the 4th headed for the Makassar Strait.
At about 0930, when about 30 miles south of Kavieng Is. in
the Java Sea, the allied ships came under very intense air attack by
about 54 Japanese Mitsubishi "Betty" and "Nell" bombers and HOUSTON
received a direct hit to her after 8" turret,
killing 48 men and putting the turret out of action.
Aircraftsman John Ranger was awarded a Silver Star for
heroism in helping to
put out the fire in the turret.

The light cruiser USS MARBLEHEAD was also hit and was so badly damaged
that she had to withdraw from the area and struggle back to Tjilitjap. From there sailed back
to America via Ceylon and South Africa for repairs. HOUSTON
returned via Alas Strait* to Tjilitjap on Java to bury her dead and then sailed
for Darwin.

* Log of USS Houston for Feb 1942 as reconstructed by surviving officers in Batavia, 1 June 1942.

Track of the bomb that hit USS HOUSTON on 4th Feb 1942 south of Kavieng Is. Java Sea

HOUSTON left Darwin on the 14th February with a convoy bound for Timor but
Japanese air attacks on the 15th and 16th forced a return to Darwin.
On the 18th ,at 2200, she left Darwin to sail 300 miles southwest
of Broome to try and rendezvous with one of her ship's planes that
had been stranded in Broome. Her arrival off Broome on the 19th
was to prove lucky for, had she stayed in Darwin Harbour, she would
have been caught by the Japanese air attack that sank the destroyer
U.S.S. PEARY.

She diverted
from off Broome to Tjilitjap arriving 21st February. The next
day she sailed west , through Sunda Strait to Surabaya. On 25th
she underwent another air attack and carried out a sweep towards Bali
Strait. She sailed on 26th into the Java Sea and
on the 27th took part in the Java Sea Battle before returning to Tanjong
Priok. With HMAS PERTH, she sailed from there
on the night of 28th February 1942 and ran into a Japanese Invasion
force off the northwest coast of Java. After an intense battle
both ships were sunk near the entrance to Sunda Strait. ( See "SUNDA
STRAIT")

HOUSTON
lies at position 05.48.45S 106.07.55E. Of her crew of 1008 men,
638 were lost in the action and 104 died as POW's. Only 266
returned home at the end of the war.

The topmasts have been removed apparently to facilitate use of the machine guns against attacking aircraft.

The lighter upperworks may be the original Standard Navy Grey. On the hull
is a coat of the Cavite Blue which appears.
to have faded
and the old light grey is starting to show through. Perhaps
there was not enough paint to make up sufficient Cavite Blue to
cover the whole ship and the coat of Cavite Blue was either
thinned down to make it go further or was mixed from paints not
suitable for
ship-use hence the fading. It has also been suggested that the light upperworks may have been an attempt to paint
the ship in a modified
Measure 1 scheme.
(The original photo of HOUSTON at Darwin in Feb 1942 showed a lot of fading and wear of the
Cavite Bluel)

Just out of interest:- Years ago I was given a paperback book (since lost) written about the attack on Darwin in 1942.
The book was written either during the war or just after.The
author was a resident of Darwin when HOUSTON was there and
he refers to her in the book as "The big blue American cruiser"